The PM would “strongly support” a Parliamentary committee if it were to consider stripping Paula Vennells of her CBE in the aftermarth of the Post Office scandal, his spokesperson has confirmed.
It comes as calls grow for the former Post Office chief executive to hand back her CBE after an ITV drama returned the widespread miscarriage of justice to the spotlight, while an online petition has reached more than one million signatures.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said that Mr Sunak would “strongly support” the Forfeiture Committee “if they were to choose to investigate”.
A petition addressed to Sir Chris Wormald, the chair of the Forfeiture Committee, calling for Ms Vennells to lose her honour has already attracted more than one million signatures.
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk is meeting Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake on Monday to discuss how to help the convicted branch managers clear their names.
The Prime Minister, speaking in Accrington, Lancashire, on Monday defended the Government’s response but said he wanted to speed up the compensation process for victims.
“People should know that we are on it and we want to make this right, that money has been set aside,” he said.
“We will do everything we can to make this right for the people affected. It is simply wrong what happened. They shouldn’t have been treated like this.”
Ms Vennells, who ran the Post Office while it routinely denied there was a problem with its Horizon IT system, has said she is “truly sorry” for the “suffering” caused to sub-postmasters wrongly convicted of offences.
More than 700 Post Office branch managers were convicted after faulty Fujitsu accounting software Horizon made it look like money was missing from their shops.
This is not the first time Ms Vennells’ CBE has come into question. Mr Hollinrake last month said calls to strip her of the honour should be considered, while Labour MP Kevan Jones has long backed such a move.
Sir Keir Starmer has called for prosecution powers to be stripped from the Post Office and previous convictions looked at again, amid renewed pressure on the government response to the scandal.
Downing Street on Monday did not say whether removing prosecution powers would be among the options considered, but Mr Sunak’s spokesman said ministers were “looking at what went wrong and what lessons can be learned”.
The scandal is top of the agenda as politicians return to Westminster after the Christmas break, with Conservative backbencher David Davis and former minister Mr Jones pushing for an emergency debate on the issue.
